One Shot Marks Only the Beginning
by dancingandsingingintherain
Summary: The Joker has struck too close to home this time and all Barbara wants is revenge and all Dick wants is for no one else to get hurt. Who will win; the Joker, Barbara, or Dick? Who is next on the Joker's list? With tension running high what will happen to the infamous duo that dawned the nickname of Dibs?
1. You Always Have to Start with a Big Bang

**A/N: This story takes place right after Zatanna and Rocket leave for the Justice League although the rest of the original characters are still in the story except with the addition of Jason Todd, the second Robin and Barbara Gordon, Batgirl.  
**

* * *

The day started out the same as all the others. Connor was sitting on the couch watching TV, although for once it wasn't static, M'gann was trying out a new cookie recipe, Kaldur was curled up on the recliner with a book, Wally and Artemis were snuggling on the opposite side of the couch and Dick and I were sitting on the other side of the couch watching the news. All the sudden the words "Breaking News" flashed on the television screen. Everyone leant forward as if it would help them hear the news to come.

"This just in," the blonde reporter announced. "Just moments ago the Gotham City Police Commissioner, Jim Gordon, was shot outside of the police department…" As the reporter continued I tuned her out as I registered the facts that were just presented to me. I vaguely heard Dick asking if I was alright. I stood up and ran towards the zeta tubes. I didn't hear Dick run up behind me and take the same zeta. Once out of the out of order telephone booth, the disguised zeta tube in Gotham, I started to run to the Police Department with Dick following close behind.

When the Police Department came into view I stopped short to let the scene in front of me sink in. Police officers, that I have known since I was young, were running around interrogating witnesses and pushing reporters away from the crime scene as my father was being slid onto a gurney. When I saw my dad the tears that I didn't realize were falling came down quicker and saltier.

"Daddy!" I screamed as I sprinted towards him and pushed my way through the swarm of people.

"Barbara!" I heard Dick holler after me as he followed the suit. I was stopped once I slid under the yellow police tape by an officer that recognized me from all those times I would come to the station after school. I tried to wriggle free of his grasp and failed to do so.

"Barbara, the paramedics are treating your father right now. I'm sorry, but you can't get in the way of their work because every second counts," the officer told me.

"No, I need to see my dad!" I yelled at him as I watched my father being pushed on the gurney. When they walked in front of me I lost it. I broke free of the officer's grip and ran to my father's side knowing that the officer and Dick were following closely behind. When the paramedics spotted me by the gurney they politely shooed me away and pulled my dad into the back of the ambulance. I became weak in the knees when Dick stopped next to me because I saw the damage that the bullet had done.

It was a clean shot that was about three inches below where the collar bone starts on the shoulders side. The bullet went straight through his body and there was blood. Lots of blood that seemed to gush out of his wound on both sides faster and faster by the second.

Dick caught me before my legs collapsed into heaps of bone, flesh and muscle. He pulled my into a bear hug as I limply hugged him back. Immediately I started to bawl into his chest as he occasionally kissed the top of my head to comfort me further. He never let go of me and I didn't want him to.


	2. Tears, Tears Everywhere

I sat in an uncomfortable, plastic hospital chair bouncing my leg uncontrollably and fidgeting to no end. Only an hour and a half has passed since my father was shot and taken to the hospital and I haven't heard anything from anyone. No one has told me who shot my father, no one has told me why that person shot him did so and no one has told me how his surgery is going. So there I was, sitting on a blue plastic chair looking like a lost puppy in the mist of busy people.

"Here," Dick said while shoving an apple at me that he picked up while he was at the food court. I took the apple and bit into it without a word. Dick sat down on the empty chair to my left and bit into an apple of his own. My eyes were still puffy from all the crying and it probably looked as if the red puffiness was trying to swallow my hazy blue eyes. I stared down at my navy blue slip on All Star Converses and let my mess copper hair fall around my face. I stayed like that until I finished my apple and finally stood up to through the core away.

For what seemed as if forever the doctor emerged from the double doors leading to a hallway with multiple rooms on each side. I stood up and walked over to him while straightening out the black hoodie that Dick lent me. I felt the presence of Dick and police officers that were friends of my father follow me.

"The surgery went well," the doctor started and everyone, including myself, let out a sigh of relief. "But after the surgery he slipped into a coma from his body being unable to heal while actively awake." The tension was tangible in the atmosphere at the word 'but' and didn't dare to dissipate.

"Can I see him?" I asked the man before me in scrubs.

"Yes, right this way," he gestured to follow him and so I did with the same officers and Dick behind me. The hallway we were walking down smelled of antiseptics and with blinding white walls and multiple dull, mint green doors on each side of the hallway. The doctor stopped in front of a single door on the left side of the hallway. He opened the door and motioned us inside.

My father lay on the white hospital bed in the center of the room with many tubes and needles stuck in his arms. A small tube was wrapped around his cheeks that stuck into his nose supplying him with oxygen. On the left side of his bed was a heart rate monitor that consistently beeped with the line on the screen moving up and down in synchronization. On the right side of the bed was the IV bag that had the supplying a tube and needle expertly put in his vain.

My heart stopped at the sight of my father so broken and immobile. Rushing over to him I grabbed his limp left hand and seated myself in the blue plastic chair beside the bed. Immediately the tears started to spill on to my face and the blanket covering him.

"Why did this happen? Why you, Daddy? Why?" My questions were rhetorical at that moment, but would need to be answered eventually. I felt a familiar hand squeeze my left shoulder and then start to rub comforting circles on my back. They then sat down next to me and as I suspected it was Dick. He was quiet knowing exactly how I feel because he has seen the life being sucked out of his loved ones. It was when his entire family fell from the trapeze killing all but his uncle. The fall left his uncle paralyzed and with such severity in brain damage that he couldn't take care of Dick. That's why Bruce Wayne took him in.

I don't know how long we were there with me sobbing and him watching and taking it all in, but soon enough visiting hours were over and I was back in the waiting area wiping away an occasional tear. Bruce, his butler, Alfred, and Detective Renee Montoya were discussing my living arrangement since I am only sixteen, my dad's a single father and I don't have many living relatives nearby. From their conversation I could hear that the Joker was the shooter and it made my blood boil in rage. In the end it was decided that I was to stay with Bruce, Alfred, Dick and the newest addition to the family, Jason.

The ride to Wayne Manor was quiet and the atmosphere was thick, suffocating and depressing. It was filled with my least favorite feelings: sorrow and pity. When the car stopped in front of the iron gates I almost ran out of the car wanting to get away from it all and go back to the carefree world that I was in that morning, but I couldn't do that. I can't turn back the clock or stop something from happening because life isn't like those sci-fi or fantasy stories that I always dream about and have my nose in.

When we finally reached the house I flung my car door open before Alfred could open his own and slammed the expensive black metal back in form with the car's body. I didn't bother with Alfred or Dick's calls and kept walking inside the mansion. I could feel a pair of eyes on me instantly, Jason's eyes. I ignored them and kept walking to the spare room that I always use when I stay over. I stay over here so much that they started calling it "Barbara's Room". Before I closed my door I could hear Jason asking what was going on and why I fled upstairs. I didn't bother to acknowledge the answers or the soft footsteps closing in on my door. I didn't bother and I could barely hear them over my loud sobs.

I didn't respond at all to the door opening and closing softly behind the person that did so. They stood there for a good minute while I continued to sob while sitting at the end of the bed. Finally the person spoke softly and gently starting, "Barbara-"

"Go away Dick," I whispered harshly between sobs recognizing the person's voice. He didn't and instead took a seat next to me and pulled me into a hug. I pounded against his chest hard and yelled for him to let me go, but he didn't budge. He waited for me to calm down before saying, "It's not your fault, Babs. You couldn't have seen it coming."

"I should have," I sobbed into his Navy t-shirt covered chest. "I'm the damned Batgirl; I should know the Joker's next hit."

"None of us could have known. Not Bruce, Jason, Alfred, me or you," Dick stated pulling away slightly to look at me, but I refused to lift my head from his chest. He hugged me tightly once again as I continued to bawl. He stroked my hair to comfort me and after a while I felt a drop of water from his eyes land on my head. I pulled my hands up to his back returning the hug and together we comforted each other.

* * *

**Thanks for reading my story. Please review, I like feed back (consrtuctive critisim).**


	3. Wake up Calls and Breakfast

I don't know when we fell asleep, but I woke up swaddled in my 1,000 thread count sheets and Dick's right arm limply wrapped around my torso. I could hear Dick's soft breathing meaning that he was still asleep. I turned to face Dick and watched him breathe in and out rhythmically. He looked peaceful and calm unlike his usual worried and on edge self. I reached out to brush an out of place strand of hair even though all of his hair was tousled and out of place in its usual style. He stirred under my touch. He blinked his crystal blue eyes rapidly as they adjusted to the hazy sunlight coming in through the curtain covered windows.

"Good morning, Babs," Dick croaked out looking into my eyes.

"Good morning, Dickie Bird," I replied as he tucked one of a curl of my hair behind my ear. "So, yesterday really happened?"

He nodded slowly and sadly. I took a slow, deep, shaky breath and closed my eyes tightly to fight back the oncoming tears as I remembered the events from yesterday. Dick pulled my into him knowing that the water works were going to come back. My shoulders started to shake with the uncontrollable sobs coming out of me.

"Babs," Dick whispered softly in my ear. "Babs, everything will be alright in the end. If it's not alright then it's not the end. So, you're going to be fine. You're dad will be fine. We're going to catch the son of a bitch, Joker." I nodded slowly against his chest finding reassurance in his words and sniffled as I pulled away him. I looked up at Dick and smiled while saying, "Why do you have to be so good with words?"

"To cheer you up when you're down, such as a few moments ago," he replied with a matter-of-fact tone and smile plastered on his face. I gave him a slight punch on the shoulder and smiled at his antics. Leave it to Dick to make me smile by cracking a joke when I'm feeling terrible.

A few moments later there was a soft knock on the door. In a rush I threw my sheets off me and opened my door a crack so that whoever it was wouldn't see that Dick was in my room as well. Alfred had a rule that no one of the opposite gender in the other's room after ten in the evening.

"Breakfast will be ready shortly, Miss Barbara," Alfred told me when I opened the door. "And if see Dick would you tell him the same?"

"Of course Alfred," I answered the short, old, British man in front of me.

"And do change your clothes, wouldn't want to wear the same outfit two days in a row."

"Will do Alfred," I said before he turned away and I closed the door. I turned around to find Dick shirtless as he changed into his spare clothes that he keeps in my room for Robin reasons. I felt a slight blush creep onto my face as I quickly turned away and towards the closet. I walked into the large closet pulling out jeans from a pile on a shelf, a shirt that was hanging up and some undergarments from another self.

When I walked out of the closet I found the room empty thinking that Dick left to give me my privacy like the gentleman he is. After I changed and discarded my dirty clothes, I walked into the bathroom and finally got a full look at myself since the accident. My mascara was long gone from all the crying, my hair was a complete and utter mess, my face was tearstained and my shoulders were hunched forward as if there were weights holding them down. I took a shuttered breath before I turned on the cold tap water. I cupped my hands and let the running water be caught in them before bringing it to my face and splashing the water on it.

I turned off the water and toweled my face. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and determined not to cry, I grabbed my brush to try to untangle my copper mess of hair. After a few minutes of trying to wrestle my mane I decided to slap it up in a pony-tail. I looked in the mirror once again deciding that I looked decent enough to go down and eat breakfast.

I trudged down the stairs tugging at the sleeves of my black hoodie. My feet made their to the kitchen by muscle memory and I stood in the doorway picking at nonexistent lint on my jeans. After about a minute or two Dick noticed me standing in the doorway and ushered me over to the dining table that was full of breakfast foods. Without a word I lowered myself into the chair next to Dick's that was next to the head of the table where Bruce sits and across from Dick is Jason and across from my seat is where Alfred sits. Quietly I reached for a piece of toast and the jar of Nutella and got to work on spreading Nutella on the piece of toast. In the middle of spreading Nutella on my toast Dick clears his throat to gain the room's occupants' attention.

"So, what is on the agenda today?" Dick asks as he is placed scrambled eggs onto his plate.

"I have meetings at ten in the morning and two in the afternoon," Bruce replied shortly after Dick asked. I listened as everyone else shared of what they planned to do that day and polished off two Nutella covered pieces of toast. I was reaching for a sausage link when Dick asked me what I planned to do that day. As I placed the sausage on my plate I replied quietly saying, "I'm going to go visit my dad."

"What are you going to do?" Jason asked being unable to hear my reply. I cleared my throat before I spoke in a louder tone, "I am going to visit my dad." I left out about the part of wanting to go the police department to ask Detective Montoya if they had any leads on Dad's shooter, the Joker.

The room fell quiet after my sentence ended and we finished our meal in silence.

* * *

**R&R please. Singinganddancingintherain, out.**


	4. Hospitals, Never a Fun Place to Be

I finally got out of the manor around 10:45 a.m. and once I did I sped all the way to the hospital surprisingly not being pulled over by the police. I march straight up to the front desk almost startling the lady working there.

"I'm here to see Jim Gordon," I tell her before she can ask why I am there.

"Any relation to Mr. Gordon?" She asks as she fiddled with a pen in her left hand.

"Daughter," I replied tapping my foot impatiently.

"I'm going to need some I.D. to verify that," she told me, her voice nasally and bored from going through the same motions with every visitor. To gain her full attention I slapped my driver's license on the counter making her jump before she took the license and examined it. She handed the license back to me while saying, "Room 332."

Grabbing my license I walked as fast as I could to the nearest elevator to bring me to level three of the building. Once out of the elevator I nearly sprinted around the hallways until I almost ran into the door marked "332". I opened the door and walked into my father's room to find Detective Montoya on a chair off to the side of the hospital bed.

"Detective Montoya, I didn't know you were here. I'm sorry I barged in on you, I'll just be going," I told Renee as I started to walk out.

"No, no you're fine I was just leaving anyways," she replied as she began to walk out of the room.

"Renee," I said softly yet sternly as I grasped her bicep as she walked pass me. "Can you give me updates on the tracking of Joker?" Renee looked at me, studying me, as she contemplated her answer. "Please," I begged, "This is my dad, your boss. I want the Joker put away, hell, even dead just as much as you do."

"Barbara, you know I can't do that. It's against protocol to tell outsiders about ongoing investigations," Renee replied. I could tell from her voice that she wanted to keep me in the loop, but didn't want to risk her job from doing just that.

"I am the commissioner's daughter. I am your boss's daughter. I am just as much as an insider as he is and deep down you know that," I told her as I tried to keep my voice from waiving, but to no avail. One look at Renee and I know that I played the right card.

"I will do what I can. You are family after all," Renee finally caved.

"Thank you. I owe you, big time," I told her and with that she left and I walked to my father's side. I sat down in the chair that Renee was in only a few moments ago and took my father's left hand that was needleless in my own hands. I started to silently cry while resting my forehead on my father's hand in mine.

I don't know if it was only minutes or hours later when I looked up at my father's limp form. My eyes were probably red and puffy from all the crying. When I finally spoke my voice was hoarse, "I promise Daddy that I will take down the son of bitch named Joker that put you here."

I stood up, grabbed a tissue from the end table and left before the doctor came to check on my dad. I rushed out of the hospital to my car. I climbed into the silver Ford Fusion while shoving the key into the keyhole. I was about to turn the key when my phone blared "I'm Sexy and I Know It". I knew immediately that it was Dick because the song is an inside joke between the two of us.

"Hello," I greeted my voice still hoarse from crying so I cleared my throat before repeating myself.

"Babs, are you alright?" Dick asked knowing that I had been crying from small sniffles and my 'Hello' earlier.

"I'm fine. I just finished visiting my dad, but I'm fine now," I reassured Dick.

"You're lying. You are not 'fine' Barbara, you were just crying. Don't bother denying it because we both know that it is true," Dick called me out on my bluff. I couldn't take it anymore; I started to breakdown sobbing in the front seat of my car, on the phone with my best friend.

"I want the Joker found and locked up or maybe dead, I don't care. I just don't want him to hurt anyone else. I want him off the streets," I yelled at Dick through my tears.

"I know Babs, I know. I want him off the street too," his voice was calm and soothing even though I had just yelled at him. I quieted my sobs before I whispered, "What do I do? We don't even have any leads yet."

"I'm going to find a lead and when I do you will be the first to know. Anything I find on him I will tell you ASAP," Dick assured me.

"Promise that if you do find anything you will tell me?" I asked knowing that he will do anything that he can in order to keep this promise.

"I promise, Babs. I promise," Dick assured. I don't have to tell him that I will hold him to it because he knows that I can and will.

"You're the best friend a girl could ask for," I told him for what seemed like the millionth time in our friendship.

"I know," he said lightheartedly. Leave it to Dick to go from super serious to joking with you. I giggled slightly through my tears at his antics.

"I'll be at the manor in a few minutes," I told Dick as I wiped a few tears away then started the car.

"Okay, I will see you in a few," Dick agreed and then hung up leaving me with only the hum of the car's engine. I put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space I was in before and I drove off to the mansion.

* * *

**Good? Bad? Keep going-Yes? No?**


	5. Rules Don't Always Rule

I walked into the Bruce's study in the manor to access the Bat Cave. Before I could reach the grandfather clock and turn it to 10:47, the time that Bruce lost his parents, Dick caught my arm.

"I knew you were going to be back soon, but I didn't know that you would be back this soon," Dick told me. "You know, it's not nice to sneak around other peoples' houses, especially if they don't know that you're home," Dick scolded me.

"I'm sorry," I said while playing along with his little game.

"Barbara, Barbara, Barbara. You should know by now that the number one rule is to never apologize, for it is a sign of weakness," Dick smirked using one of his favorite rules that we have accumulated over the years.

"I thought that the first rule was never screw over your partner and never let suspects stay together," his smirk faded when I said this.

"That too," he nodded.

"Now, can I go down to the cave or are you going to lecture me even more on the rules?" By now I was on my tippy toes looking Dick right in the face.

"I don't know, can you?" He shot back correcting my grammar.

"May I go down to the cave?" I asked.

"I guess," was his reply. I spun the hands on the clock to the right time and heard the distinct click of the grandfather clock detaching from its previous place. With one swift shove the clock revealed a hole that led to stairs winding down into darkness. After the clock was once again set in its rightful place, we started to descend the spiraling stairs.

"Is your father doing any better?" Dick asked when we were halfway down the stairs.

"No, he is still the same. Every second that he spends in the coma makes his survival percentage drop. The doctors say that they have done everything and that we just have to wait, but you know me, I'm impatient when it comes to these kinds of things. I just want him to wake up and the Joker to be found and this hellish whirlwind to end." By the time I had finished talking we had finished descending and was greeted by the tapping of Bruce's fingers on the Bat-computer and the munching of Alfred's cookies. I looked down at Dick's watch before saying, "It is 7:45 in the afternoon. Isn't that a little early for the Batman and Robin to be out and about?"

"Not when you're working on an urgent case," Jason replied from his perch near the cookie plate.

"What urgent case?" I asked unable to hide the confusion and curiosity in my voice.

"Wow Barbie and I thought you were supposed to be a Bat," Jason retorted using his nickname for me.

"I wasn't here when you received the case, Jay," my voice was starting to go cold in annoyance. Dick rested a hand on my shoulder signally for me to calm down a bit. Jason threw his hands back in surrender saying, "Sorry, sorry. It's the case on-"

"- an Arkham break out," Bruce quickly finished for Jason while shooting the young ward a glare to keep quiet.

"Uh huh, and the sky is purple," I snarled my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Seriously for Batman and Robin you sure are shit liars, so spill the beans."

Dick, Jason and Bruce all shared a silent conversation through the look in each other's eyes, a skill the four of us plus Alfred have become experts in. I knew that it was just a matter of time before one of them including Bruce was going to spill the beans all they needed was a little push.

"I'm not getting any younger here," I blurted out knowing that it would send one of my three colleagues over the edge. I heard a sigh come from next to me and I knew that I had broken Dick.

"The case about the Joker, we're tracking him," Dick spoke slowly and confidently.

"And you were planning on not telling me why?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and my arms crossing my chest.

"Rule number ten," Bruce simply replied.

"Never get personally involved in a case. What about rule number 38? Doesn't that apply here?" I asked Bruce while glaring at him with intensity.

"Your case, your lead. She has a point Bruce. This is her father we're talking about and her father is the only lead. You let Dick go after Zucco and he actually killed his parents," Jason piped up.

"Jim is not dead and the Joker is more dangerous than Zucco ever was," Bruce coolly replied.

"Yes my dad isn't dead, but Zucco took down an entire family. The Joker couldn't even kill my dad. Look I know that if you look at the overall situation of the Joker being insane, but at the time you let an untrained kid go after a killer. I'm not a kid anymore and I am trained," I countered.

"Why are we even bringing up Zucco at a time like this?" Dick asked with anger evident in his voice as well as hurt.

"Dick has a point," Bruce spoke leaning against the back of his chair.

"Okay, I'm sorry for bringing the while Zucco thing into this, but rule five: don't waste good," I retort.

"Rule six: never say you're sorry. It's a sign of weakness," Jason piped in.

"Shut it, Todd," I snap and he threw his hands up in surrender.

"Joker just wants you to come after him and you having this case will make him getting exactly what he wants," Bruce said exasperated.

"Rule fifty-one, Bruce. Rule fifty-one," I seethe.

"I could play that card just the same, Barbara," Bruce retorted.

"Uh, rule fifty-one?" Jason asked rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Sometimes you're wrong," I tell him as I walk past him and up the stairs angrily. I feel tears prick the edge of my eyes and the weak ones fall down my face. My footsteps made ghostly echoes as I walk alone up to the manor. Alone. I'm in this all alone. Screw rule fifteen. There is no team to work with for this time it is only me, myself and I.

* * *

**AN: Props to anyone that can guess where the rules that were used in the chapter are originally from! :)**


	6. Mysterious Love

Minutes after my argument with Bruce and Dick, I pushed angrily past Alfred up stairs to the room I was staying in. I plopped down on the desk chair and fired up my laptop. I picked up my MP3 player and shoved the ear buds in my ears turning the volume up as Miranda Lambert's "Mama's Broken Heart" blared in my ears. After spending a month on the Kent farm with Kara, I took a liking to country music. With determination I started looking for a lead on the Joker or anyone that might be working with or for the Joker.

An hour and a half later I, paused my music, closed my laptop and made a dash for the cave. Not even bothering if Bruce, Dick, or Jason were down there I ran over to my costume case nearly ripping the cowl off the manikin's head. While rushing to the changing rooms I kicked off my shoes and threw my hoodie on the ground leaving a messy trail of clothing articles.

Only seconds later I hopped while finishing putting on my boots to my motorcycle. Pushing on my helmet I revved my motorcycle and sped out of the now cluttered cave. Nearly hitting a hundred mile per hour only seconds from emerging from the cave, I made my way down the dark, lonely roads to South Gotham.

Three minutes later I slowed the motorcycle down as I parked it before getting off and quietly finding my target. Staying in the shadows, lightly stepping and quiet breathing like how I was taught. I waited hiding in the shadow of a roof and listened to the two villainesses talk.

"But Red I thought that he was still in Arkham," the first voice tried to reason with the second.

"Obviously he wasn't. What the hell was he thinking? Is he an idiot or something?" The second voice countered.

"My Puddin' is not an idiot, Ivy. He's just different," The first voice defended.

"Very," Ivy, the second voice, snorted. "Well since the Joker did go after the commissioner, the entire GCPD will be after him and maybe the bats too. You know what this means Harley?"

"That those meanies are goin' after my Puddin'," Harley, the second voice replied with a pout evident in her voice.

"Well, yes, but this also means that every other villain in Gotham can do whatever they want and most likely get away with it," Ivy replied with a mischievous grin in her voice. I got up from my position having enough of their twisted conversation and they obviously didn't know anything about the Joker or his whereabouts. Staying hidden to the naked eye I slipped back to my motorcycle and started to head back to the manor empty handed.

When I slowed to a park in the cave I was greeted by a "How was your outing?" I winced knowing that it was Dick. Pulling off my helmet and setting it on the motorcycles seat I turned to face him.

"Fine," I replied.

"You left quite a mess when you left, you know?" Dick asked.

"I know. I was in a rush. I was going to clean it up after I got back," I said while pulling off my boots while standing, which is very difficult when you are sleep deprived.

"I picked them up and put them away for you," he said. I turned to him shoeless and with my cowl hanging down the back of my neck.

"Thanks," I say genuinely.

"No problem. I brought you some pajamas to change into," Dick told me while holding out a neatly folded pile of clothes. Wordlessly I took them from his hands as I stared at him wondering why he was doing this to me when not too long ago we were almost yelling at each other. "Alfred has some snacks upstairs, too."

"I'm not hungry, but thank you," I tell him quietly. He only gives a nod in response. "Why are you doing this? Nearly two and a half hours ago we were in an argument and now you're cleaning up after me and giving me my pajamas."

"Because I understand. I understand because after my parents died I had to beg Bruce into letting me go after Zucco whit him. Although I do agree with Bruce, that the Joker is more unpredictable and deadly than Zucco was, but I do know that during all of this is that you need a good friend to be there for you," Dick explains. I can tell that he was evaluating me, trying to figure out my emotions by looking at me, it was – is one of his specialties. I felt the corners of my mouth tug upwards into a smile as I launched myself at him and hugged. I could tell I caught him off guard when he almost tipped over, but once the initial shock wore off he hugged me just as tightly back.

"I love you, Dick," I tell him in a way that only the best-of-the-best-friends do, my voice muffled by his t-shirt.

"I love you too, Barbara," Dick hummed into the crooked of my neck. We stood in our embrace for awhile until Dick pulled away to look down at me and said in a hushed, low voice, "You look tired. Go get ready for bed."

Not bothering to argue with him I reluctantly pulled away and walked over to the changing room with my pajamas in hand.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry for the long wait. I've been meaning to get this posted, but haven't gotten around to it until now. I'll try to update more often! On a different note, feedback makes me happy so go right on ahead a push the review button or if you like PM me or if you're really daring both. :)**


End file.
